Departments, Schools, Centers & Instituteshttps://digital.library.txstate.edu/handle/10877/1
This collection provides access to the research, creative, and scholarly activities of Texas State University.

2018-02-21T20:17:01ZPurification, Characterization, and Active Site Studies of 2-(2'-Hydroxyphenyl) Benzenesulfinate Desulfinase (DSZB) from Nocardia Asteroides Sp. Strain A3H1https://digital.library.txstate.edu/handle/10877/6979
Purification, Characterization, and Active Site Studies of 2-(2'-Hydroxyphenyl) Benzenesulfinate Desulfinase (DSZB) from Nocardia Asteroides Sp. Strain A3H1
Vaz, Jerusha Comoa
Dibenzophene (DBT) and its complex heterocyclic derivatives comprise most of the sulfur that contaminates fossil fuels. The 2-(2´-hydroxyphenyl) benzenesulfinate desulfinase (DszB) enzyme metabolize sulfur from DBT compounds. DszB, one of the four enzymes of the desulfurizing pathway, catalyzes the carbon-sulfur bond cleavage in the last, and rate limiting step. The wildtype A3H1-DszB and the recombinant A3H1- R84Q-Y24Fand A3H1-R84Q-C27S DszBs from Nocarida asteroides sp. strain A3H1 were purified and characterized. The A3H1-R84Q-C27S- DszB was inactive. The temperature and pH optima for wildtype and A3H1-R84Q-Y24F DszBs were 35 ˚C and 8.5, respectively; the Km and kcat were 3.15 ± 0.74 µM and 1.24 ± 0.054 min-1, and 51.25 ± 0.96 µM and 4.33 ± 0.67 min-1, respectively. Overall, the A3H1-DszB showed a slower turnover rate and a moderately lower specificity for substrate when compared to the other DszB homologs referenced in this study. The mutant A3H1-R84Q-Y24F-DszB revealed that the enzyme was more susceptible to inhibition than the wildtype. Both DszBs were inhibited by 2,2-biphenol. Significant inhibition by a mixture of HBP and sulfite was observed in both enzymes.
2009-12-05T00:00:00ZOrder, Ethic, and Industry: The Beehive as a Model in Transatlantic English Migrationhttps://digital.library.txstate.edu/handle/10877/6978
Order, Ethic, and Industry: The Beehive as a Model in Transatlantic English Migration
Villanacci, Anthony
Though the English generally saw wild nature as crude in late sixteenth and early seventeenth century England, they considered the beehive to be a powerful symbol of order. The beehive influenced how the English saw themselves, and due to the available flexibility in interpreting the hive’s structure, the beehive became an enduring model for utopian social, political, and religious order in England. Once the English began to consider the idea of colonization, the beehive model helped influence their efforts in developing New World societies from the ground up. This thesis looks at the influence of the hive model in the early development of the Massachusetts and Virginia colonies. How each colony interpreted the hive model depended on the specific motivations for each colony’s settlement, but both colonies used the hive as a model. And because the hive was a model of organization from wild nature, its use survived the transatlantic transfer of ideas and prospered in the colonies due to the agricultural nature of the New World colonies and colonists’ resulting receptiveness to ideas from nature.
Presented to the Honors Committee of Texas State University in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for Graduation in the University Honors Program, December 2008.
2008-12-05T00:00:00ZCrafting a Political Message from a Scientific Surveyhttps://digital.library.txstate.edu/handle/10877/6977
Crafting a Political Message from a Scientific Survey
McCabe, Samuel F.
This thesis explores crafting political messages in a local setting through the use of polling data. The merits of polls are often misunderstood in a political campaign. News outlets publish different types of polling results, but less often are polls publicly exposed for their true values--testing language. People may ask why political campaigns run particular TV ads or a direct mail piece about one issue rather than another issue. I will answer this through a detailed description illustrating how to construct a political survey and how to interpret the results. By using a quantitative method I will show--through concrete examples--how I created a political message in a city council campaign in San Marcos, Texas in the fall of 2009. I will show both the initial poll questionnaire, the survey results, how I interpreted results to develop the message, the final election results, and post election analysis.
Presented to the Honors Committee of Texas State University in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for Graduation in the University Honors Program, May 2010.
2010-05-05T00:00:00ZExpression of C-Jun Following Optic Nerve Injury in Danio Reriohttps://digital.library.txstate.edu/handle/10877/6976
Expression of C-Jun Following Optic Nerve Injury in Danio Rerio
Soto, Silvya Georgina
Unlike mammals, fish and amphibians exhibit remarkable regenerative properties of the central nervous system. This study focused on the changes in c-jun expression consequent to optic nerve injury in Danio rerio (zebrafish). Known for its function in regulating transcription, c-jun binds with other transcriptional regulators to affect nerve regeneration and cell death in ways that seem paradoxical. I sought to determine if c-jun was differentially expressed in the retina following optic nerve injury as compared to fish which had undergone a similar operation but whose optic nerve had not been injured (sham-operated). Based on previous studies, I hypothesized that expression of c-jun in the retina would significantly increase in fish that suffered injury to the optic nerve compared to those that only underwent collateral tissue damage. Following RNA extraction and cDNA synthesis with reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR), quantification of c-jun expression was determined by quantitative real time-PCR (qRT-PCR). Expression levels were normalized to expression of a reference gene (ß-actin), yielding relative expression levels. A two way analysis of variance was carried out in order to determine whether there were significant differences in gene expression 3 hours, 24 hours and 168 hours after injury between
sham-operated and optic nerve injured fish. Significant differences (p < 0.05) between sham-operated and optic nerve injured retinas were observed at 24 hours and at 168 hours.
The significant differences in expression of c-jun corroborated and extended past studies (Veldman et al., 2007, Herdegen et al., 1993). Furthermore, my findings raised the possibility that c-jun expression may be important for optic nerve regeneration. If the ability of fish to regenerate optic nerve has a genetic basis, then one may be able conduct gene therapy treatment in glaucoma patients by identifying the genes that are differentially expressed following optic nerve injury.
Presented to the Honors Committee of Texas State University in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for Graduation in the University Honors Program, December 2009.
2010-05-05T00:00:00Z